Best vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Manchester

Manchester's vegan eateries offer a flavourful range of cuisines

(Image credit: Istetiana / Alamy Stock Photo)

Jump to category:

1. The Allotment Vegan Eatery
2. The Walled Gardens, Whalley Range
3. Greens
4. Black Leaf
5. Bundobust
6. Vertigo

published 19 January 2022

1. The Allotment Vegan Eatery

The Allotment started out life in Stockport, but after initial success ”they’ve since upped sticks and made the move to the city centre”, said Manchester Evening News. The restaurant has gone from strength to strength, receiving The Sunday Times vegetarian restaurant of the year award in 2018 as well as being included in BigSevenTravel.com’s top 50 vegan restaurants in the world in 2020.

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Chef Eddie Shepherd is responsible for the “playful and inventive plant-based fine dining” at The Walled Gardens, said Manchester Evening News. The underground restaurant feeds eight diners a night with “multi-course menus that are really technical”, as well as being “fun and delicious”, said The Observer, which named it one of the UK’s best restaurants in 2020. Shepherd worked in restaurants around the world, before opening his own, which serves a modern 12-course plant-based menu tasting menu four days a week for three weekends of each month. It’s BYOB, and diners are advised to book early to nab their slot in this intimate eaterie. The dishes have “a touch of molecular gastronomy” with unique presentation to make the dining experience truly unique, the newspaper added.

Manchester’s “oldest and best vegetarian restaurant” is “fully deserving of its many awards”, said Time Out. “The decor is warm and welcoming,” the atmosphere “relaxed” and the food “delicious”. Set-up by celebrity chef Simon Rimmer and business partner Simon Connolly in 1990, this West Didbury restaurant is now a foodie establishment with a long-reputation of serving high quality dishes. Rimmer, according to Greens’ website, “shamelessly” steals from cuisines across the world to create menus that “are defined not by a negative absence of meat, but by the positive inclusion of fantastic ingredients and flavours”. The a la carte menu features gnocci, falafels, a Korean barbecue bowl and a lentil and nut roast too, as well as sticky toffee pudding and dairy free ice creams to finish. Though the black pudding might be “fake news”, it’s the “best dish”, according to local independent publisher Confidentials.com – and it’s vegan too.

This subterranean kitchen “is one of Manchester vegan community’s best kept secrets”, said Taste of Manchester. Chef Grace Stubbs, who took over from former head chef and MasterChef semi-finalist Adam Leavy, “leads an all-girl team of chefs” who create plant-based menus that attract vegans and non-vegans alike to the underground restaurant, located in the city’s Northern Quarter below fellow restaurant Alvarium. Try king oyster mushroom calamari or roasted Jerusalem artichokes from the tapas plates, or go for spicy soy “beef” and banana blossom “fish” tacos. Handmade dumplings, chickpea meatballs and hasselback potatoes all star on the list of small plates too. A concise beverage offering accompanies, including vegan cocktails. It would be remiss to enjoy a Sunday roast in the north of England without a side of cauliflower cheese – luckily, Black Leaf’s vegan version hits the spot.

The term “restaurant concept” makes The Guardian’s food critic Jay Rayner want to “bang my head on the table repeatedly”. But Bunbobust is giving the trend a “good name”, and is even somewhere he would “shout about”. The Indian street food menu, which is wholly meat-free and for the most part vegan, “makes its argument on its own terms”. Munch on okra fries and mung chatpata, or Mumbai’s classic street snack bhel puri. The snacks and favourites can be ordered in combos to share between groups who want to try the whole range of dishes. And while “finding a decent pint in India isn’t always the easiest task”, said Manchester’s Finest, “thankfully there’s loads to choose from” here, including local and international craft varieties.

Vertigo is one of vegan community Happy Cow’s top rated restaurants in Manchester, with an impressive average review score of five stars. It has to be “one of the most popular vegan restaurants in the city”, said TheManc.com, and now has three sites: Cross Street, First Street and Media City. “Think Reuben bagels, 1.4lb cheeseburgers, jackfruit black bean chilli” as well as “tasty vegan bakes”, said the local news publisher. Go for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or order for delivery if you’re after an evening in. “Drinks include coffee, juices, local beers and natural wines”, said Taste of Manchester.

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